Prolonged exposure to the heat and direct sunlight should be avoided during the afternoon hours when the heat will be at its worst.

16 WAPT meteorologist Ethan Huston said temperatures have been slowly rising during the past two weeks because of the lack of frequent and area-wide rainfall which is drying out the soil.

When the ground is moist or saturated, some of the sun's energy is used to evaporate that moisture and this keeps temperatures a little cooler during the afternoons, Huston said.

"Unfortunately, we went eight days without seeing substantial rain across central Mississippi and that dried out the topsoil," Huston said.

The sun's energy can then heat up the dry ground faster during the daytime and this pushes temperatures up into the mid- to upper 90s during August, he said.

A very large ridge of high pressure is building over western Texas and this is pushing the jet stream farther away from the Deep South, which will limit rain chances for the rest of the week.

Scattered thunderstorms are likely through Tuesday afternoon for much of eastern Mississippi, but western and southwestern Mississippi are more likely to miss out on the rain.

Rain chances stay low for the rest of the week, but the heat and humidity will hold into the weekend.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Latham said residents should check on their neighbors who might be vulnerable to high temperatures.

Latham also said residents should protect themselves from the heat by staying indoors as much as possible, drinking plenty of water, limiting intake of alcoholic beverages and avoiding strenuous work during the warmest part of the day.